are they getting smarter?

[hitman]

i know i am a "newbie on this forum" however i have been pigeon shooting for about 30 years now and would like to share a thought that i have been having more and more over the past couple of years.

a lot of threads on here talk about shooting over rape and i know for some its probably the only option available at this time of year however,i have definitely noticed that in lincolnshire the pigeons only tend to go for the rape when other forms of food are not available. in fact i would go so far as to say that they deliberately avoid the rape as they know it will be there all the time and choose to hit the crops that have limited availability.

as i said i have only noticed this over the past two seasons and would be interesteds to see if anyone else is noticing the same or similar patterns emerging.

i have avoided the rape at present as thrashed covercrop is available where i am and do seem to be having better bags than i normally would a t this time of year.

your thoughts please

pete

[markbivvy]

the best couple of days i have had this year was over beat stubble, the birds just would not leave it. but i have done a lot of watching this year, and left unmolested the birds are always found on the rape. i think with the drop in temperature this last week and no for cast for it to get better, more and more pigeons will start to hit the rape a bit harder. i also think the milder winters in the past has been a big factor in less and less pigeons being shot over rape. i have thought for a lot of years that the oil content in the rape plant has a lot to do with how the pigeons feed in cold weather. animals and humans have a inbuilt instinct to eat what they need to feel good. carp fishing is a huge business and company's have invested thousand on the feeding habits of fish of all sorts, and at any given time of year it is well documented what each given fish will be eating. if this sort of was money was put into pigeon shooting research would it make it any easier.( i doubt it) just like fishing, some days you just cant go wrong, put the decs out in any order and in they come. but why.

[lurcherboy]

I drove to work this morning and saw flocks of them on OSR.

 

 

 

 

 

LB

[markbivvy]

I drove to work this morning and saw flocks of them on OSR.

 

 

 

 

 

LB

Hi lb

if this cold snap keeps up you will see a lot more mate.get ready to take a day of and get your gun out.

[Catamong]

Hitman,

 

You're dead right, I too have been shooting Woodies for 30 years and reached the same conclusion.

 

Contrary to popular belief, Pigeons don't "love" the rape, they eat it simply because there's nothing else available for them.

 

In my area, (Herts / Bucks), the birds will not hit the rape until all of the acorns & beechmast have been eaten.

 

They will also switch literally overnight onto flattened maize cover crops and early drillings.

 

What do others think..??

 

Cat.

[Cranfield]

Rape (plants) and other crops of the cabbage family are not the pigeons favourite, as they have to eat a lot to gain nourishment, due to the speed at which they digest.

Nuts, berries, seed, grain, pulses are all far more nourishing and digest slowly.

 

In hard Winters, rape is the only "green" crop available.

As the weather has become milder, the other alternatives have remained available far longer (I still have ivy berries in my woods).

 

The situation does vary around the Country and even within quite small areas.

I live within 5 miles of over 200 acres of rape and most of it is almost untouched.

However, 10 miles away some fields are being hammered.

 

I suppose if we could figure it all out, it would become boring.

[the hitman]

I agree ,in my patch we have no maize or beet so its all osr until the drillings go in then they move.I did see some on a winter wheat field i guess they were taking chickweed,which adds to hitmans point.

[hitman]

when i first started shooting with my grandad 30 yrs ago, at this time of year we would head straight for rape and would have good bags time after time however, i firmly believe that pigeons have undoubtedly evolved as do carp in the fishing world to a degree where they ignore rape in favour of other feeds simply because they know the rape will still be there next week/month.

or maybe its just because my grandads fieldcraft of 70yrs was beyond question, and should i live long enough to learn half of what he knew i will be a lucky man.

[Highlander]

Smartest bird there is and a very choosy one to boot!

 

Rape and other 'green' crops are a 'last resort' food. When all else fails woody knows he's got something to fall back on. The strange thing is...why some fields and not others (wish someone would tell me). I can take you to hundreds of acres of rape fields and whilst some have been hit hard others have gone all winter without a touch. Even right alongside each other. If a field has been sprayed or fertilised woody will tend to leave it alone for a while but they still don't go for the other fields of rape that have been avoided.

 

Sugar beet and game cover crops especially maize are damn good around this time of year. Also clover (if you can find any). If you see woody on wheat he's probably eating chickweed or picking up grit (especially if it's later in the day). Don't bother trying to decoy him 'cause he'll just b off!

 

Roll on planting time...there just might be some good times ahead there!

[hitman]

totally agree highlander but cant honestly say that its been like this for that long ,ive only really noticed it over the past few seasons unless ive got smarter (highly unlikely)